Backroom Talk

Smile, you're on Flock camera

Seminole Mayor Leslie Waters isn't particularly interested in having license-plate cameras keep tabs on her travels.

“I don't want to be trailed all over town,” Waters said at the City Council's Sept. 9 meeting, where council members asked staff to find out how many surveillance cameras are in Seminole, where they are and who controls the information they collect.

MyTownView, a website that tracks surveillance cameras, documents at least five automated license-plate-reader locations in Seminole — including three within a mile of City Hall.

The cameras Waters was talking about are deployed by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. She called the technology an infringement on people simply going about their business, while City Manager Ann Toney-Deal suggested appropriate “guardrails” could address concerns about access and use.

The cameras apparently have their uses, though, even as the technology faces nationwide backlash over privacy concerns.

City staff and a sheriff's deputy recently used license-plate-camera information to identify someone suspected of illegally dumping garbage in Seminole. The person was tracked down and told to come back and clean it up.

Just nod and bobble

City Commissioners in Treasure Island have put some new rules around how they ask their attorneys for legal advice after concerns that one commissioner was keeping them unusually busy.

Commissioner Chris Clark said at the Sept. 15 commission meeting that colleague Arthur Czyszczon had requested 21 legal opinions, some examining whether other commissioners violated laws or city policies. Reading from a memo by attorney Becky Vose, Clark said the 53-year veteran of Florida local government law had never encountered a situation requiring such a procedure.

Czyszczon said he turned to the attorneys because city officials weren't answering his questions.

In the end, commissioners voted to require sign-off before any big new legal assignments while leaving routine questions alone.

“Now I'm just gonna get stonewalled every which way,” Czyszczon said. “So I'll just be up here like a bobblehead, just a full yes for everything.”

Between a rock and a code provision

Belleair Beach may have discovered one problem with cracking down on big landscaping rocks: It has some, too.

Residents objected at the Sept. 9 City Council meeting to a proposed zoning provision restricting rocks larger than 8 inches near roadways. Martin Leventon said he counted about 52 homes with rocks within four feet of the road, along with rocks on four cul-de-sac islands.

Then City Manager Kyle Riefler explained how the eight-inch limit got into the proposed ordinance: It was “more of an afterthought.”

“I don't remember where the idea came from,” Riefler said.

Riefler also acknowledged the city uses large rocks and might have to remove some of its own. Council members agreed to reconsider the provision — which may save Belleair Beach from having to cite itself.

Taxation without . . . anybody

The South Pasadena City Commission approved a sizable property-tax increase after months of budget discussions over declining property values and dwindling reserves.

Residents had one last chance to weigh in at the Sept. 16 final budget hearing.

Nobody did.

The city adopted a tax rate of 5.8106 mills, about 10% above the rollback rate, after becoming the only Pinellas municipality where preliminary taxable property values declined this year. The final hearing lasted about 13 minutes, with no residents speaking before commissioners cast their votes.

Taxation without representation? No, just taxation without an audience.

The goose, the gander and Amendment 3

State Rep. Berny Jacques made quite a fuss about Largo’s handling of Amendment 3.

Jacques, who lives in Seminole and represents both cities as part of House District 59, blasted Largo officials over a Sept. 9 taxpayer-funded town hall that he said presented a skewed case against the property-tax amendment. After Jacques complained, the city added him to the panel to provide an opposing view.

But just a few miles away, Seminole has been taking its own one-sided approach to Amendment 3.

Seminole's taxpayer-funded website features an Amendment 3 red-button alert linking to statements opposing the measure and critical news coverage, but no material presenting arguments in support.

So far, Jacques has been mum about Seminole's messaging. We asked his office whether he had the same concerns about his hometown's presentation, but never heard back.

Apparently, what's sauce for Largo isn't necessarily sauce for Seminole.

Crist for . . . QB?

Not Charlie Crist, former governor. Not Charlie Crist, former attorney general. Not Charlie Crist, former education commissioner.

Charlie Crist, former quarterback.

A campaign mailer touching down in St. Petersburg homes is leaning heavily into Crist’s earlier résumé as quarterback at St. Petersburg High School, Class of 1974. “St. Pete has been on pause,” the front declares above a portrait of the St. Petersburg native and an old football photo. “Time to put in a winner.”

The gridiron theme continues on the back, where Crist's record in public office becomes “Charlie's Big Wins for You,” complete with columns labeled “Year,” “Play” and “Result.” His agenda is “The Crist Game Plan,” featuring lower property taxes, fixed water bills, faster permits and storm preparedness.

“Charlie was a quarterback at St. Pete High and in college before he was anything else,” the mailer explains.

What it doesn't explain is what the mayoral candidate is running for.

Apparently, voters know the quarterback. They're just expected to know the position.